Monday, November 21, 2016
Video - Twin babies rescued from ritual killings in Nigerian village
Here's a look into a Sanctuary established for twins who risk execution for a bizarre traditional belief. An hour's drive away from the Nigeria capital, Bassa people believe twins are evil-as such they are killed at birth. Now Local christian group has taken the trouble to save children from that community from being killed.
Economic crisis in Nigeria worsens
Nigeria’s economic slump deepened in the third quarter as oil production continued to fall and factory output was hit by a shortage of dollars.
Gross domestic product in Africa’s most populous country contracted 2.2 percent in the three months through September from a year earlier, after shrinking 2.1 percent in the second quarter, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an e-mailed statement Monday. The median of 15 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a 2 percent contraction. The economy expanded a non-seasonally adjusted 9 percent from the second quarter, the statistics office said.
Government revenue has plunged and foreign currency became more scarce with the decline of oil prices, the country’s main export, since mid-2014, and production fell as militants in the Niger River delta blew up pipelines. The authorities have struggled to manage the economic fallout, at one point pegging the exchange rate against the dollar for more than a year and more recently using law enforcement to bring down the street price of foreign currency.
“The key drag on the economy remains issues around oil production,” Wale Okunrinboye, an analyst at Asset & Resource Management Co. in Lagos, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “We do not think this reading is a trough for the economy and see downside to growth from a combination of continued militant attacks, depressed real wages and persisting dollar shortages.”
Crude production fell for the fourth consecutive quarter to 1.63 million barrels per day, from 1.69 million barrels in the three months through June, the statistics office said. The oil industry contracted by 22 percent from a year earlier. The non-oil sector, which includes manufacturing, banking and agriculture, expanded 0.03 percent. Factory output contracted 4.4 percent, the third consecutive quarter of decline, and construction shrank 6.1 percent, the fifth straight quarterly contraction.
Manufacturing was “affected by the foreign-exchange volatility and depreciation of the naira,” Damilola Akinbami, an analyst at Financial Derivatives Co. in Lagos, said by phone. “We saw significant injection in construction, but there is a time lag between when something is implemented and when you see the impact, that’s why we didn’t see the impact in the third quarter.”
The slump in oil and shortages of foreign currency and power could cause the economy to shrink 1.7 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. That would be Nigeria’s first full-year contraction since 1991, according to data from the Washington-based lender.
Budget Rejected
Nigeria’s Senate rejected the government’s spending plan for the next three years earlier this month because the proposals, which were meant to boost the economy, lacked details. Lawmakers also rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to borrow $30 billion abroad through 2018 on the same grounds.
The central bank removed its 197-199 naira per dollar peg on June 20, causing the currency to lose more than a third of its value.
The Monetary Policy Committee, which will announce its interest-rate decision on Tuesday, left the benchmark rate unchanged at a record-high 14 percent in September to help prop up the naira and fight inflation, which quickened to an 11-year high of 18.3 percent in October, even as the economic outlook deteriorated. All but two of the 18 economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast the MPC will keep the key rate unchanged.
While the third-quarter GDP data “will put pressure on the central bank as they meet, I don’t think it is going to change their stand as inflation remains very high,” Michael Famoroti, an economist at Lagos-based Vetiva Capital Management, said by phone. “Inflation is going to remain their focus, as well as the foreign-exchange market.”
Gross domestic product in Africa’s most populous country contracted 2.2 percent in the three months through September from a year earlier, after shrinking 2.1 percent in the second quarter, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an e-mailed statement Monday. The median of 15 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a 2 percent contraction. The economy expanded a non-seasonally adjusted 9 percent from the second quarter, the statistics office said.
Government revenue has plunged and foreign currency became more scarce with the decline of oil prices, the country’s main export, since mid-2014, and production fell as militants in the Niger River delta blew up pipelines. The authorities have struggled to manage the economic fallout, at one point pegging the exchange rate against the dollar for more than a year and more recently using law enforcement to bring down the street price of foreign currency.
“The key drag on the economy remains issues around oil production,” Wale Okunrinboye, an analyst at Asset & Resource Management Co. in Lagos, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “We do not think this reading is a trough for the economy and see downside to growth from a combination of continued militant attacks, depressed real wages and persisting dollar shortages.”
Crude production fell for the fourth consecutive quarter to 1.63 million barrels per day, from 1.69 million barrels in the three months through June, the statistics office said. The oil industry contracted by 22 percent from a year earlier. The non-oil sector, which includes manufacturing, banking and agriculture, expanded 0.03 percent. Factory output contracted 4.4 percent, the third consecutive quarter of decline, and construction shrank 6.1 percent, the fifth straight quarterly contraction.
Manufacturing was “affected by the foreign-exchange volatility and depreciation of the naira,” Damilola Akinbami, an analyst at Financial Derivatives Co. in Lagos, said by phone. “We saw significant injection in construction, but there is a time lag between when something is implemented and when you see the impact, that’s why we didn’t see the impact in the third quarter.”
The slump in oil and shortages of foreign currency and power could cause the economy to shrink 1.7 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. That would be Nigeria’s first full-year contraction since 1991, according to data from the Washington-based lender.
Budget Rejected
Nigeria’s Senate rejected the government’s spending plan for the next three years earlier this month because the proposals, which were meant to boost the economy, lacked details. Lawmakers also rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to borrow $30 billion abroad through 2018 on the same grounds.
The central bank removed its 197-199 naira per dollar peg on June 20, causing the currency to lose more than a third of its value.
The Monetary Policy Committee, which will announce its interest-rate decision on Tuesday, left the benchmark rate unchanged at a record-high 14 percent in September to help prop up the naira and fight inflation, which quickened to an 11-year high of 18.3 percent in October, even as the economic outlook deteriorated. All but two of the 18 economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast the MPC will keep the key rate unchanged.
While the third-quarter GDP data “will put pressure on the central bank as they meet, I don’t think it is going to change their stand as inflation remains very high,” Michael Famoroti, an economist at Lagos-based Vetiva Capital Management, said by phone. “Inflation is going to remain their focus, as well as the foreign-exchange market.”
Friday, November 18, 2016
Video - Nigeria Chibok girls' parents eagerly await for their return
Parents in northeastern Nigeria plead for the return of their girls who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram.
Video - Nigeria asks Brazilian Pele to refund appearance fee due to no-show
Brazilian legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento -- popularly known as Pele -- is being asked to refund a $300,000 appearance fee at the inauguration of Uyo stadium in southern Nigeria. Akwa Ibom state government claims it advanced the money to Pele in 2014 but the soccer legend didn't show up at the sports complex.
Mob in Nigeria beat and burn boy to death
The boy was set upon after being accused of repeatedly robbing local residents and businesses, and even threatening to kill people, according to reports.
The incident took place in the Badagry district of the city of Lagos in the south-western Nigerian Lagos State.
The shocking footage shows the boy with a bloodied face holding his hands up as the mob surrounds him as he sits on the ground with his legs tied together.
He is beaten over and over again as he begs for his life, and a man can be seen trying to place a tyre around his neck to necklace him.
Necklacing is when a tyre full of flammable liquid is placed around someone’s neck and the fluid is then set alight, causing them to burn to death.
The boy, however, appears to manage to throw the tyre off.
As the pictures show, however, he was then apparently set alight anyway and burnt to death, despite the fact that some residents called for him to be handed over to police, according to reports.
The video clearly shows him being savagely beaten and later the images show him being burnt alive.
The gruesome scene was shared on social media, with reports about his age varying wildly, with some suggesting he was 15 years old, but with others saying he could be as young as seven.
Netizen ‘Oladipupo Raphael Dare’ was one of those who spread the footage, writing: "Lagos thief rest in bad. Good bye to you oooo..."
The boy had allegedly been caught in a supermarket trying to steal food, which he had been caught doing before on more than one occasion, as well as robbing locals.
The police have not yet commented on the matter.
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